McAuliffe lobbied Obama aide in charge of Solyndra

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia and former owner of an electric car company now under federal investigation, once paid a visit with three other advisers to the same White House “green energy” official who helped secure more than $500 million in guaranteed loans for Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar panel manufacturer backed by a prominent Barack Obama fundraiser.

White House visitor records reviewed by Watchdog.org indicate that McAuliffe met with Greg Nelson, the former associate director for energy, environment and technology, at the White House on Oct. 13, 2010.

While the substance of the meeting is unknown, the individuals involved make it all but certain that the subject was GreenTech Automotive, a green energy car company founded by McAuliffe in 2009.

At the time, McAuliffe was energetically seeking assistance for a “green” car company that was funded by a bizarre scheme involving visas for Chinese investors and appears not to have produced any automobiles. The Obama Energy Department was also eager to provide taxpayer assistance to alternative energy gambles, such as the cylindrical-row solar panels for which Fremont, California-based Solyndra failed to find a market.

GreenTech is Gulf Coast Funds’ sole client and the recipient of millions of dollars from Chinese investors seeking visas. The FBI has been investigating whether the EB-5 program represents a threat to national security since at least March of this year.

In the heady days of 2010, when McAuliffe took his meeting with Nelson, the Energy Department was rapidly awarding assistance, mostly in the form of taxpayer-guaranteed loans, to companies that subsequently ran into trouble or failed outright. Among the little-remembered beneficiaries: LightSquared, Ener1, Abound Solar, A123 Systems, SoloPower, SunPower, Solar Power Project, Beacon Power and even a Tennessee-based truck terminal.

But Solyndra — a company funded by influential Obama donor George Kaiser that received a 2010 presidential visit during which Obama announced, “companies like Solyndra are leading the way toward a brighter and more prosperous future” — drew the most attention.

Nelson achieved brief notoriety when his name and email trail figured prominently in the investigation of the massive loss of public funds on the private company. He had been intimately involved in Solyndra’s lobbying activities, pushing the Energy Department to approve the company’s loan request, which was put on hold by the Bush Administration but rapidly approved by Obama in 2009.

“Any word on O.M.B.?” Nelson asked an Energy loan official in an early 2009 message. “I have the [office of the vice president] and [the White House] breathing down my neck on this.”